Believer's Ambition
by Bowser Jr's Descendant
Summary: Ever heard the phrase be careful what you wish for? This is not what I had in mind when I said I wanted to go to an anime world...
1. The Games Begin

**Believer's Ambition**

**Based off the idea by TheTurk95**

**Chapter 1: The Games Begin**

Something always bugged me about today. Was it the idiots at school who only go there to do drugs, chat with friends, and possibly get laid in the bathroom? No. Was it the teachers who only cared about whether or not you showed up to class to get credit? No. Those things bug me on a regular basis. Was it the weird guy with the swirly mask and the Akatsuki cloak? Yes.

I didn't think anything of him when I first saw him. I just thought he was a cosplayer. But the way he kept looking at me throughout the day was creeping me out. It started this morning when I was on my way to the bus stop. I saw him across the street just staring at me. I thought, _Wow, he must good at cosplaying Tobi._ I looked back down the driveway to see if any of my friends were coming, but none were. So I turned back to the street only to find him gone.

Then while I was walking to get my stuff out of my locker for second period, I saw him again just in the hallway, but it was like nobody but me could see him. I instead shook it off and grabbed my stuff. When I looked back, he was gone once again.

Later, when I was doing PE outside, I saw him yet again. I tried to walk up to him, to ask him why I was being followed. A whole lot of good that did; as I was about to reach him, I was called back into the group by my gym teacher. What happened when I looked back to where the guy was standing? You guessed it. He was gone.

So yeah, I was very happy for school to finally be over, because after that, I never saw him except for a few glimpses of him out of the corner of my eye.

When I got home, I immediately hopped onto my computer and began playing Audiosurf. After hearing of a game that actually doesn't use a BS import process to use, I had to try it, and very quickly got addicted. The songs I liked playing most were "Move Your Body" by Eiffel 65, "Rise" by Skillet, and the main theme of Skyrim by Peter Hollens…right getting off topic here.

I had been playing for about two hours when my mom called me for dinner. I closed the game and went down to the dining room where my mom and sister were waiting for me. After saying a quick prayer, we dug into our food consisting of Scalloped Potatoes with ham, and peas. After a while, my mom broke the silence.

"Now, I'm going to be going back to Memphis tomorrow to work for the next 3 weeks. While I'm gone I want you two to behave yourselves. Got that?"

I nodded. "Yeah, and I'll be making sure sis here stays out of trouble."

"Hey!" my little sister protested. "I'm not nearly as bad as you when it comes to your anime or video games." I scratched the back of my head sheepishly and kept my mouth shut. Surprising how my 13 year old sister was able to make me, her 16 year old brother, shut up.

"Alright that enough," my mom chuckled. "I want you two to clean up around here a bit. You know, vacuum, dust, steam mop the floors."

"Yes mom." I sighed. "What time do you leave tomorrow?"

"I leave at 8:00 in the morning."

"Alright. I'll be in my room if anyone needs me." With that, I loaded my plate and walked right up to my room. I closed my door as soon as I entered and flopped onto my bed. _I freaking hate my life here. Why can't I just go to an anime world like Dragonball Z or Naruto and live life there? That'd be better than here because at least I'd be somebody._ I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, interrupting my brooding. I reached in and flipped it open, reading a message that made my eyes narrow in confusion and suspicion.

_If you want to live your dream, reply with the phrase "Ninja Art: Link Start"._ I looked at the contact info to find there wasn't a number, but a name that I didn't recognize.

_Madara Uchiha?_ I thought. _I probably shouldn't, since it looks like spam. Not only that, but if it were real and this were really the same one I'm thinking of, I know I'd only get screwed over. _ I hopped back on my computer, reading fanfiction online while trying to get my mind off the crappy day of school. The message kept filling my thoughts however, making my curiosity all the more tempting. After about 2 hours, my curiosity got the best of me.

…_Meh screw it._ I opened my phone, typed the phrase and pressed send, placing my phone on its charger and getting ready for bed. I got out of my shirt, and changed from jeans into blue flannel fleece pajama pants. After I finished brushing my teeth, my phone went off again. I moved to open it again, to find another strange message.

_Your dream starts at midnight. Prepare yourself._ I looked at my clock, reading 10:57 pm. I shrugged and turned out my light, settling into bed and sacking out almost immediately.

When I woke up an hour later, I went downstairs to get myself a drink of water. Once I got down there, I almost couldn't believe my eyes. There in my kitchen was the masked man from earlier, still in the same costume, staring at me. I was about to yell when a hand clasped over my mouth.

"Now, now," his deep voice toned, "That wouldn't do for you to call out right now." I felt something hit the back of my neck before darkness swallowed me up.

* * *

When I woke back up again, I saw a field of grass with various animals that I couldn't identify spread out in small groups. A banner made itself known across the bottom of my vision saying _Field of Beginnings_ and fading. I looked down where the banner was and caught a glimpse of what I was wearing…which turned out to be exactly what I went to bed in, the same pair of fleece flannel pants and no shirt.

_Am I dreaming?_ I slapped myself as hard as I could and it hurt…a lot. I opened my eyes again, and I was still in the field. _Well, I don't think I'm dreaming. So that just leaves one question._ "Where the hell am I?"

"A good question," a quiet, deep voice answered. I stiffened as I thought I recognized the voice. Turning around, I saw the exact person I didn't want to see. His cloak black with red clouds almost overshadowing his feet and Sharingan shining through his swirly mask, there stood a character I thought to be fictional, Tobi, aka Madara Uchiha. "One that I would be able to answer."

"What the crap is going on here?! Why are you of all people here?!" I yelled. He simply chuckled while smirking, though I couldn't see it.

"Call it an experiment of sorts," he explained. "I'm seeing how people from your universe fair in a different universe. You are going to test yourself in the universe of Sword Art Online by Reki Kawahara."

I looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You're kidding, right?" I deadpanned. "You're using me as a freaking guinea pig in what's supposed to be a fictional world?"

"You're not the only one. I have many others participating in different universes from this. You've seen this universe in action, right?"

"If you're asking if I've seen the anime, I only saw the first season on Netflix and I was only four episodes into the second season."

"Then you're aware of how things play out in this game."

I hesitated for a second. "Yeah, I know the most important parts."

"Then you're mission will be simple. Help the main character complete his objective while he's trapped here."

My eyes narrowed in suspicion and defiance. "Why should I? What's in it for me? I know that you've got an ulterior motive, and that somehow involves the 9 tailed beasts."

Tobi chuckled again "A few reasons, actually. The first being you replied to the message I sent to your phone. The second being that I had some interesting results the last time I warped someone to an alternate dimension."

_Naruto and Sakura,_ I thought, remembering the 6th shippuden movie.

"The third," Tobi continued, "You seemed like the best candidate, seeing as you hated your life in your universe and I had been watching you for a while. The fourth and final reason I'm willing to give," he paused, though I could tell he was grinning underneath the mask, "pure amusement."

I grit my teeth as I how powerless I was against this guy. Being one of the most powerful ninja in the Naruto universe, I knew for a fact that I could barely hold my own against a genin, let alone a missing nin that could warp through dimensions via his Sharingan.

"Are you really that surprised? Why would be unexpected for me to do something like this?" I sighed as he continued. "Of course you would get your own unique set of abilities."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked cautiously.

"I take it you're familiar with the mechanics of Chakra from my universe?"

"A combination of physical and spiritual energy to make attacks or illusions? Yeah I'm familiar with it." My eyes widened as I connected the dots. "You didn't…"

"I did. It wouldn't do if my experiment were to fail. And what better way to ensure success by giving my subject a small boost. Though there are some small repercussions to using it too much."

I immediately paled at that. "What kind of repercussions?"

"Nothing too major, your health bar would just go down to zero. Of course it's to be expected."

"Isn't that kind of a major problem here?!" I yelled. "Because I distinctly remember that dying in this game means dying for real and there is no way to revive someone in here!"

"Well then, you'll just have to make sure to use your ability sparingly, now won't you?" He turned his back to me then. "Oh and one more thing," he said, dropping something on the ground. "It wouldn't help if you stood out in a crowd because you don't wear standard armor."

I looked down at the bundle and touched it. A small screen appeared in front of me, saying,

**You have obtained: Beginner's Armor, Beginner's Sword. Equip now?**

I tapped the accept icon and felt a small tingle. When the tingle stopped, I looked at myself and found myself wearing a purple long sleeve shirt with iron torso armor strapping over my left shoulder and tan pants. A sword was strapped over my right shoulder, giving me a way to defend myself from the monsters, but it looked kinda crappy. But that was to be expected from a starter sword.

I looked over where Tobi was, but found the space completely empty. Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my nose. _That freaking dick_, I thought bitterly, _sticking somewhere as dangerous as this. Oh well, might as well get used to this. I should probably try to level up a little while I'm out here._

* * *

A boar shattered into a flurry of polygons as another screen popped up showing my new EXP gain. Before I began hunting, I decided I better check my profile to see what my account looked like, and I was pretty surprised.

**Profile Name: Hiruzen**

**Level: 1**

**Str: 10**

**Def: 15**

**Mana: 25**

_Whoa,_ I thought,_ I got named after the Third Hokage...okay then._ I scrolled down the screen to see what else I had in my skill set.

**Sword Skills**

**Horizontal: 0/100**

**Vertical: 0/100**

**Chakra Skills**

**Chakra Control: 0/100**

**Original Skills: ?**

I looked at the stats screen for a little longer before closing it down and beginning my grinding. During that time, I'd gained a level and a half before trying to find the closest town so I could get some extra potions. Said town happened to be the Town of Beginnings.

Seeing it off in the distance, I began to run toward it. It wasn't until I felt something ram into me from the side that I began to pay attention to my surroundings. A Level 2 boar had tackled me to the ground as I heard someone coming up behind me.

"Wow," he deadpanned. "Congrats. You got defeated by a pig." He was a tall boy, possibly 23 or 24, with jet black hair falling past his chin wearing the same kind of armor I was, only his shirt was blue instead of purple. His sword was also strapped to his back. I knew exactly who it was from the sound of his voice. It was the main character of the show, Kirito.

"F**k you, man," I responded, the game's profanity filter taking effect. "That's like the pig from hell!"

"Oh really?" he remarked, picking up a small rock. As I got up, I noticed the rock turn pink before he threw it, shattering the boar and taking the EXP. "My god," he gasped mockingly, "I've stumbled across the most powerful weapon in the game!"

"Please don't." I deadpanned, only to get ignored.

"The Mithril Pebble of Pig Smiting!"

"Don't even think about it." He inhaled deeply, ready to continue before I stopped him. "If you start going on about how the rock is awesome, I'm going to freaking stab you." He waved his hand dismissively.

"Alright, I'll save it for some other noob if I run into them."

"So anyway," I began, trying to forget the bit of rudeness he showed, "nice to meet you," I paused for a moment, looking up at the name above his head to make myself seem like a normal player, "Kirito."

"I guess it's nice to meet you too…Hiruzen?"

"Yeah, it's my alias whenever I go on the internet. It kinda stuck with me since I was a kid."

"Oh, I see." A long awkward pause filled the air.

"So," I hesitantly began, "since you're here, will you help me with the sword skills? I can't figure out how to use them." I sheepishly scratched the back of my head.

Kirito sighed before taking out his own sword. "Alright, here's the deal. Every skill has its own position. It's just a matter of figuring it out. If you can do that, you can cause major damage. For the horizontal skill, you need to position your sword like so," he placed the sword by his hip, causing it to light up, "Then, you simply release the slice." He did so, causing a light arc to appear where his reach was. "Same thing for the Vertical, except the starting position is above your head. But the main thing you should be aware of is that each skill has a cooldown time where you won't be able to move for a few seconds."

I nodded as I remembered this info from the show. "Ok I think I got it." I placed my sword at the horizontal ready position, watching it light up in a blue hue before swinging at a boar that was nearby. The boar shattered instantly, giving me extra EXP and Col. "Now that's cool. Thanks for the tips, Kirito."

"You're welcome. I'll talk to you later." He turned to leave.

"Oh, before you go, can I add you to my friends list?"

Kirito looked surprised for a second before nodding and opening his menu.

**The user "Kirito" would like to add you as a friend. Do you wish to add them?**

I pressed the accept button and found Kirito's name on my list of Friends. He waved at me and headed off in the opposite direction of the town. I continued down the path toward the town, thinking about how I was going to help Kirito accomplish this game with the skills I held when I don't even know how to use them. _This is going to be complicated…_

* * *

"That'll be 2500 Col," the NPC at the basic shop said to me. I sighed as I gave the money over in exchange for 50 health potions. As soon as I had my potions, I thanked the NPC and went back to the plaza in the Town of Beginnings. After looking at the sky and seeing the sunset, I figured the big announcement would be soon and I'd rather not be teleported by force there.

As it turns out, I didn't make it fast enough and I started to feel a little tingle. I soon noticed a blue flash cover my body before it went just as quickly as it came and I found myself in the main plaza with more blue flashes appearing around me.

_So it begins,_ I thought,_ Kirito and Klein should be popping up soon if not already._ As if on cue, the two of them appeared right next to me. Klein was a man dressed in a white shirt with a headband of red and gold material, the same armor and a sword at his hip. His hair was a deep shade of red stopping just between his shoulder blades.

"Hey, Kirito, what's that?" he asked, pointing at the sky. A red polygon was blinking between the phrases "WARNING" and "System Announcement".

"Well," Kirito began sarcastically, "I believe the locals call it a Hex-a-gon? I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that correctly, I'll have to get back to you on that."

Klein's intelligent response was a simple, "F**k off." By this time, the hexegons had spread across the entire sky. Over the plaza, red ooze began dripping in between the hexegons, pooling into a shape in midair.

"And the sky's bleeding," Kirito observed.

"Wow, they're really pushing for that M rating." Klein replied. The ooze had taken the shape of a robed figure and solidified, keeping the face hidden in shadow.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the figure's voice greeted, "I am Kayaba Akihiko, Head Programmer. Welcome to the unparalleled online experience that is Sword Art Online." The crowd began murmuring, panicked because of their current predicament of not being able to log out. "Hello? Hello! Guys, kinda talking here. *sigh* I'd better just disable the chat." A small beep and a speaker with an "X" appeared over his head.

"Do you think he realizes he just muted himself?" Klein asked.

"Give it a minute," I replied. The speaker disappeared and the admin started talking again.

"Alright I saw what happened there and it was funny. Anyway, it's serious time. How many of you have seen 'Tron'?"

Silence.

"What seriously? None of you have seen 'Tron'?"

I raised my hand in the air. "I've seen bits and pieces of it, but not enough to know the general plot."

"S**t I was really banking on that. Oh well. That's fine, I can wing this." He cleared his throat before continuing. "It's like the World of Warcraft, none of you are here by choice anymore. Unlike WoW, however, you're being held here by me. Not because of your need to escape your empty f**king lives." He drew his hand down, opening the menu. "There is no longer any way to log out of SAO. If anyone outside attempts to log you out by removing your NervGear, well…has anyone seen 'Scanners'?" More silence. After stuttering trying to jog anyone's nonexistent memory of the movie, he sighed as a bunch of screens came into existence. "Alright here we go. Watch this." A screen popped out beside him showing someone's head exploding. "See that? That was from 'Scanners'. Basically that." The crowd gasped collectively. "Okay, _finally_, now we're seeing some gears turning. We're making some progress."

"Why would you do such a thing?" someone in the crowd yelled out.

"Steven? Steven is that you?" He immediately switched personas from business to social. "Steven, how are you enjoying that advanced copy of the game?"

"I'm playing with my family!" the same guy yelled out.

"Oh that's right," the programmer laughed, "Happy Birthday, Timmy!" A small boy giggled in the crowd. "Ah, they grow up so fast. Cherish these moments, Steven. Cherish these moments." He immediately switched back to his business persona. "So as I was saying, the only way to keep your NervGear from going all Gallagher on your grey matter is to make your way through Castle Aincrad and beat Sword Art Online."

"So," another voice in the crowd called out, "you want us to beat an MMO?"

"Essentially."

"F**k you!"

"Whoa, getting a lot of hostility here, and don't appreciate it."

"Well honestly, when was the last time you heard of someone beating 'Everquest'?"

"When was the last time you heard of someone _playing_ 'Everquest'?"

The voice paused. "Okay, that's fair."

"Anywho, for all you guys that wanted to play as girls, and you know who you are, I got a surprise for you. Check your inventory." Everyone opened their inventory to find a mirror in their hand. Soon the entire plaza was filled with a bright light, blinding everyone. When the light faded, everyone looked completely different, except for me.

_Not surprising that Tobi makes me take my true form from the beginning,_ I thought.

"Kirito?" Klein's voice got my attention. I turned to see him looking almost the same, except for shorter red hair on his head and a few whiskers on his face. "You look so…young." Kirito looked younger than his avatar let on, with shorter hair barely passing his cheek bones and a smaller height.

"And look a little older, Klein," he responded.

"So that's your true form, huh Kirito?" I said catching his attention. His eyes widened when he saw I looked exactly the same as when he first met me.

"Is that your true face, Hiruzen?" he asked, surprised. I stood at about 6'2" with brown curly hair and brown eyes.

"Yeah, I figured if I met some friends on here that I wouldn't want to confuse them if we agreed to meet up IRL. Guess it would've been pointless either way now."

Kayaba's voice got our attention again. "As you can see, I've peeled away your facades and revealed you for what you truly are; barely attractive twenty-somethings …apparently. Good for you. It undermines the whole 'cruel light of day' thing I had going, but we need to bring down stereotypes. Except you, fatty. Gotta bring down the curve." That last part was directed at one player in the back. "Oh, one more thing, one more thing. I should probably mention that if your health points reach zero, your real bodies perish as well."

"What?" yet another person yelled out.

"Erm, if you die in the game, you die for real."

"What?"

"Really? Okay, sometimes, things are born. They live…and then they stop. Forever."

_Wow,_ I thought after a few seconds of silence, _I think he got through-_

"What?"

Groaning, he brought up the exploding head clip again.

"Oh my god!" another person yelled. "If we die in the game, we die for real!"

"I'm just gonna keep that tabbed," Kayaba muttered. "And with that, I bid you all adieu." He started to dissipate in to smoke and code. "Oh, last thing, I promise. I disabled the profanity filter. Have fun with that." When he finally dispersed, the sky went back to its original setting, leaving a stunned crowd. Silence reigned once again for a minute before someone yelled again.

"We're screwed!" **(1)**

After leaving the plaza, I decided it would be best for me to head out to the next town before traffic became too crowded. I figured that was also Kirito's plan since it was my job to help him complete his own task. I began walking down an alley, when I heard footsteps and crying coming from behind me fairly fast. I went against the wall just as I saw Kirito's figure run past me, crying what sounded like "He called me an asshole!"

"That…is quite possibly the saddest thing I've ever seen." I thought out loud.

"I have to agree." A calm voice behind me replied. I jumped and turned around to find Tobi staring right back at me.

"Oh, it you," I deadpanned. "What do you want?"

"Just came for a progress report."

"So far, I got Kirito to teach me how to do sword skills, and got him to gape at my lack of change in appearance when the announcement was made. Also, I'm going to need a guide on how to use my Chakra attacks, because I have no prior experience with this kind of thing." His eye swirled for a second before a small scroll appeared in my hand.

"That will be your guide on how to use the basic abilities of Chakra. How are you liking this world?"

"I just have one question. Did you screw up in your transportation jutsu? Because based on my experience so far, I can safely say this is the universe of SAO Abridged."

"You're not wrong in your assumption. It's actually a mixture between the two worlds. The characters may sometimes flip between their personalities from both halves, but they will still be the same. This is only a temporary side effect. It should be gone before the first year is up."

"Alright then, I guess. Now there's the one question of why you got me to stay in my real face while everyone else had their avatar for a while."

Tobi's tone became even more serious. "That was because you aren't a real player in this game. You have to make sure that fact stays hidden."

"Shouldn't be too hard. I've been able to keep it up so far, and the excuse I had for not changing my appearance was that I didn't want to make it hard for people I'd want to meet outside the game."

Tobi grinned under his mask. "Then you should have no problems. Though there are some characters to watch out for."

"I know. I'll think about that when the time comes." My face then became serious. "Now as for actual chakra techniques go, what would you have in store for me?"

"I don't control that. It's all based on your own actions and morals. Though if I did have control over it, you'd be surprised at what I'd pick out."

I looked back in the direction Kirito ran. "I don't know how bad this will be, but I'll find out soon." I looked in Tobi's direction only to find an empty space where he stood. _And I better prepare for the worst if Tobi's the cause of my being here. Time to start working._

* * *

**(1):** Sorry, kids, but I try not to cuss too much in my stories. So even though the profanity filer was turned off in there, it wasn't turned off here.

* * *

**Of course the unique abilities of chakra mentioned by Tobi will have their major drawbacks, making the use of them very limited, but they will become known later on. I will have a poll on my profile seeing what kind of move set you want this guy to have for his chakra attacks.**

**While it may not look like it now, Naruto Characters will make an appearance throughout the story, but not for a while.**

**So As I close this chapter, I ask for reviews and constructive criticism. Flames will be used to heat up my ramen. Above all, keep it appropriate.**


	2. Special Cases

**A/N: Sorry about the lack of poll… I kinda didn't think about how to post that on my profile, and found out I had to manually embed it on my profile. That's not something I'm good with, so I've got a different way of doing this. I'll tell you more at the end of this chapter.**

**Chapter 2: Special Cases**

Have I mentioned how much I freaking hate Tobi? He sticks me in a death game with no way out other than helping beat the damn game, and gives me a set of abilities that I have no clue how to use correctly without fear of hurting something other than my intended target. Oh and then there's the fact that I have to keep the fact I'm not really in this game a secret. Yeah, I wasn't the happiest person in the game at the moment. It was only made worse because I had tried to catch up, but couldn't find Kirito anywhere in or around the small town I went to spend the night at.

I decided that I'd start doing some quests in order to raise my level some more before I tried to find the boss meeting. They were fairly simple ones, as would be expected from an RPG, but for my current stats, they did pretty well for me. I was actually able to get up to Level 5 before I decided to check my stats again.

**Profile Name: Hiruzen  
****Level: 5  
****Str.: 15  
****Def.: 18  
****Mana: 30**

**Sword Skills:  
****Horizontal: 47/100  
****Vertical: 38/100**

**Chakra Skills:  
****Academy Chakra Control: 0/100**

**Original Skills  
****?: 0/100**

_Not bad at all,_ I thought._ Although I'm probably going to need to be about level 10 for this boss fight. Not only that, but I actually need to start working on the Chakra techniques. This is going to take a while…_ I sighed as I went into my inventory and pulled out my chakra scroll. I figured I might as well study up on how to actually utilize it and practice with it.

_The techniques in this scroll are only for your eyes and will only be just that. Newer abilities you find yourself able to do will be automatically recorded in here for future reference and training purposes. -Tobi_

_ Well isn't that convenient, _I thought before continuing reading.

_The basic jutsu taught in this scroll will activate if signs are done in the correct order, similar to the sword skills of this game. The only difference is that if done correctly and with proper chakra control, they, along with any other jutsu you learn, will be more powerful than the sword skills._

_ Now there's something good. _The first thing I got to learn from the scroll was how to find and direct my chakra around my body. Boy was that difficult because I noticed I had a very miniscule amount compared to most academy students, and that's saying a lot. Eventually I found it and got it to move where in my body I wanted it to. Once I mastered that, I moved on to the first academy jutsu, transformation. Following the hand signs, I transformed myself into the shippuden version of Naruto. And it was very poor. Comparing my transformation to an image of the real deal would've been like comparing Naruto's transformation into the third hokage when he was in the academy to the real thing. In other words, it had big lips, a screwed up headband, and one eye that was too big.

I used the mirror from my inventory to check my image. It didn't surprise me that my transformation sucked. What surprised me was that I was actually able to pull it off. Using Chakra for the first time was actually kind of fun. That feeling of happiness was short lived when I noticed my health bar get reduced by about 2%. I sighed and figured I needed to do chakra control exercises from the anime in order to keep my health from going down, and the first one I could remember; tree climbing.

* * *

It was another two hours and about 2 more levels before I decided to go back to the city and stock up for the meeting. I was in the town square when I saw the sign that told everyone where the meeting would be held. I looked at the clock in the corner of my vision and opened my map to find where the amphitheater holding the meeting was. It didn't take too long and I decided to head right over there to wait for Kirito and the idiots who would talk smack about the beta testers. I did wonder if it would play out like the actual series or the abridged series, and smiled.

When I got to the stadium, I found a seat and prepared for the crap storm that was about to ensue. I didn't need to wait long as a man with blue hair and brown armor came up to the front of the stage area. I knew him by his name, Diabel.

"Hey, everyone," he greeted, immediately letting me know how this would play out. "Thank you for coming to our little pow-wow. Now I know many of you are discouraged by the fact that two thousand people have died so far…" he was cut off by startled yells from the crowd.

"What?"

"Two thousand people are dead?!"

"It hasn't even been a month yet!"

"Oh my god, we really are screwed!"

Diabel continued, "And I know even more of you are down because we haven't even cleared the first floor yet."

"We haven't?!"

"I thought we were almost done!"

"You guys do know there are a hundred floors, right?" Diabel hesitantly asked.

"WHAT?!"

I chose this moment to speak up. "Dude, just get to the point, these idiots didn't listen clearly enough so you're just making things worse."

He nodded at me. "Thank you. The point is we've found the boss room." The crowd collectively gasped. "Now we've formulated a few strategies with some help from the beta testers-"

"Beta testers?" an arrogant voice sounded from the back of the crowd. I knew who it was from the sound of his voice. It was the jerk wad I was ready to beat the crap out of the moment I first saw him in the anime, Kibaou.

"Oh dammit," Diabel cursed as Kiabaou jumped down from the top of the stands to the center of the amphitheater. "Kibaou, what do you want?"

"Beta testers. They're the reason we're stuck in this game!" Kibaou accused. He had brown hair that spiked in all directions and a small bit of hair on his chin. He wore a white shirt with beige pants and iron looking armor covering his entire torso with a sword slung across his back.

"What? Do you have any evidence to back that up?"

Kibaou scoffed. "Evidence, I don't need no stinking evidence. Isn't that right, Jesus?" he directed his question to a member of the audience who had his name showing.

"It's pronounced Hezus, and I don't know you," the audience member replied.

"Well they still should've helped us newbies."

"If I might interject," another member of the audience stood up. He was a bald, African American man with armor over a grey and white vertically striped tank top and a battle axe on his back.

"And who the hell are you?" Kibaou demanded.

"I'm known by many names. Mountain Slayer, Thunder Lion, the Chocolate Axe. But you…you may call me…" a small glitch in my vision told me something was changed before he continued. "Agil." Another glitch reverted things back to the way they were.

"Well," Kibaou started. "That's a pretty masculine name."

"Shouldn't be. It's a girl's name." Agil replied.

"Okay, I don't know how to talk to you."

"Good then maybe you'll shut up and listen." Agil pulled out a small leather book from his inventory. "Does everyone here have this book in their inventory?" a few confirmations permitted the man to continue. "This book is full of tips and strategies to survive, put together by the beta testers. Everyone read it, yet some people still died. The beta testers did everything they could."

"I didn't read it," someone in the crowd mentioned.

"Yeah, I didn't either," another added.

"I skimmed it," someone else put in.

"What," Agil asked, surprised. "Didn't any of you read it? This is literally a matter of life and death."

"Well dude, it's like 80 pages."

"Two thousand people are dead!"

"THEY ARE?!"

I decided this would be a good time for me to interject. "You idiots need to learn to listen up. Regardless of whether or not they read it, the point is, they died when they had the same access to this knowledge as everyone else, and some of those deaths were probably other beta testers." All eyes were on me in astonishment as I walked down to the front and continued. "Kibaou, you think it's the beta testers' faults that we're stuck here. You couldn't be any further from the truth. The Beta testers were just as surprised as the other 9000 of us that we were stuck here, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of them committed suicide because of it. Yes they knew where to hunt and where they could get some good quests, but that doesn't mean they left the rest of us completely stranded. Now as Agil was saying, the book has the tips we need to survive. If people died because they didn't look through it, that's their own dang fault." I looked over at Diabel. "Sorry to interrupt you. Go ahead and continue." With that said I walked back to my seat.

"So, as Mr. Thunder Chocolate said, this book has some great strategies, including how to beat the first boss, Illfang." He cleared his throat before opening the book and continuing. "So after you enter the boss room, he's going to throw wave after wave of disposable minions at you…and you must answer in kind?" his face contorted to one of confusion.

"Eh…what?" someone in the crowd asked.

"Send the weaker players first. Good rule of thumb, if a player asked you for Col two seconds after meeting you, frontlines."

"Hah, serves 'em right." Kibaou laughed.

"If they hijack conversations to rant about their political views, frontlines."

"Aw, crap."

"If they ask female players for pics of their boobs, frontlines." This was met with many protests from the crowd.

"Oh, bull crap!"

"That's discrimination!"

"Boooooo!"

"Now, now, people," Diabel quelled the crowd. "I think there are some valid points being made here. Now, it goes on to say that when his heath is in the red, Illfang is going to switch from his axe and buckler to something called a Talwar. At which point, we should initiate a strategy called the Final Solution, and I'm just gonna stop reading! Geez, who wrote this thing?"

Kirito chuckled to himself a few seats away.

"Okay, so the guide's a bust. But it'll be fine; I'll come up with a great plan for us."

"Like what?" someone up front asked.

"Well…we could…erm…I'm open to suggestions."

"Well," another one started, "you know, we could like, group up, and…"

"And hit it till it DIES!" another one pitched in, earning a high five from the first player.

"That's…a good start," Diabel hesitantly said. "But let's hear some other suggestions."

"I'd like to hear more about this Final Solution." Another player perked up.

"Screw it. Everybody group up." I moved over near Kirito who scooted toward a girl in a dark red hooded cloak with a rapier at her left hip.

"So…Why aren't you with anyone?" he asked.

"I have my reasons," she answered plainly.

"Is it because you're a girl?" he deadpanned.

"No, it's because…I don't know how to play."

"Because you're a girl?"

"NO! It's just…I don't know how to open the menu…"

"What? But you can't do anything in this game without the menu. How've you survived all month?"

A scene flashed into my head of this character staring at a pastry for a few seconds before saying, "How do I eat you?!" Her voice brought me back to the current situation.

"It's…been a challenge…what about you two? Why haven't you joined the others?"

I spoke this time. "I prefer to stick with people I'm familiar with, and right now that list is composed of a crap load of NPCs and Kirito."

"Oh, lots of reasons," Kirito replied. "Mostly because everyone else is a bunch of mouth breathing neck beards that think LMAO is how French people laugh." As if to prove his point, someone in the crowd laughed.

"Haha, that's so lmao." Kirito groaned and shuddered in anger.

"Well, you certainly…speak from the heart." The girl stated.

"Funny I thought I was speaking from my mouth, but that shows what I know about biology."

"No one else wanted you in their group did they?" she deadpanned.

"Shut up! It was mutual!"

Diabel's voice got our attention again. "Alright looks like everyone's grouped up. Get plenty of rest people. We leave at noon."

"Ugh, Noon? That's so early" the audience groaned while I shook my head.

Diabel sighed. "Okay what about 1:00?"

"Dude, really? One? Come on man!"

"Ugh, fine, we leave at the crack of…2:30, I guess…lazy butts."

"Man, I'm gonna have to set my alarm…" someone grumbled.

"Oh, get over it, you lazy idiots. At least he's not making us go at 7:00 am!" I yelled to the crowd before turning to my new temporary party. "I'll catch up with you guys later. I need to talk to our fearless leader over there." They nodded and left for the city while I made my way to Diabel. I figured I needed to warn him of his demise in the boss fight, and if he chose not to believe me, it was his funeral. "Can I talk to you for a minute, Diabel?"

"Oh? Sure, what's up?"

I looked around to make sure we were alone before continuing. "This is going to sound very nuts, but I need you to bear with me and let me explain when I tell you. Can I trust you to keep a secret?" He nodded, looking a little confused. "Alright. The thing is, I had a vision of something last night." I was lying when I said this, but who would honestly believe the whole 'I'm from another universe that watches what you're doing half the time for entertainment' spiel? "That vision was of your death in the boss fight."

Diabel looked at me with a serious expression. "What are you talking about?"

"Something is going to happen that will cause you to get a mortal wound across your chest and die. I don't know why I saw it, but I know that it had to have been a vision from the future. I recognized most of the people here, including Kibaou and Agil. I had never met them before today though. So I'm telling you now; be cautious, and make sure you know your safe ranges." With that I walked out of the amphitheater and out into the field to go train some more.

* * *

Later that night, I went into a bar in the city and got myself a drink. The one thing I was thankful for was alcohol wasn't bad for you in the game and just served as a way to celebrate. That's what most of the players were doing, as they were in high hopes that they were going to win. One guy was on the mini stage, trying to sing karaoke, and failing epically, while everyone else was sitting around the tables and bar, ordering and drinking their drinks. I eventually finished my glass and went up to the stage with a small note to the NPC host telling what song I was going to do.

As I was about to go on stage, Kirito, along with our new party member, Asuna, walked into the bar. I got an idea and went to go get him to put it in motion. He noticed me coming his direction and waved at me.

"Hey, Hiruzen, what's going on?"

"I need you on stage with me for a minute." I replied, grabbing his wrist.

"Why? What's going on?"

"We're doing a song on here that's best done sober."

"Wait what? I can't sing!"

"Don't worry about it. Your part won't need to be sung. Plus, the lyrics will be on the screen." We made it up to the stage and I grabbed the mics, handing one to Kirito. The Host giggled and began the song, while a small screen appeared in front of us.

_Another Irish Drinking Song_

_In the style of Da Vinci's Notebook_

Kirito looked at me deadpanning before the song started up and I began my part.

_Gather round ye lads and lasses sit ye for a while  
__And hearken to me mournful tale about the emerald isle  
__Let's all raise our glasses high to friends and family gone  
__And lift our voices in another Irish drinking song_

_Consumption took me mother and me father got the pox  
__Me brother drank the whiskey till he wound up in a box  
__Me other brother, in the troubles met with his demise  
__Me sister has forever closed her smiling Irish eyes._

Everyone in the bar began to tap their feet on the ground to the beat of the song for the chorus.

_Now everybody's died so until our tears our dried  
__We'll drink and drink and drink and drink and then we'll drink some more  
__We'll dance and sing and fight until the early morning light then we'll  
__Throw up, pass out, wake up, and then go drinking once again._

I pulled down a map that was hanging behind the stage and pointed out the locations I sang in my next verse.

_Kenny was killed in Kilkenny and Clair she died in Clair  
__Tip from Tipperary died out in the Derry Aire  
__Shannon jumped into the river Shannon back in June  
__Ernie fell into the Urn and Tom is in the tomb_

I put the map away and continued my verse facing the audience.

"_Cleanliness is godliness" me Uncle Pat would sing  
__He broke his neck a slippin' on a bar of Irish Spring  
__O'Grady he was eighty, though his bride was just a pup  
__He died upon the honeymoon when she got his Irish up._

As the crowd sang the chorus with me, I gave Kirito the signal to get ready for his verse. He looked at me with a look that said 'I will find a way to pay you back ten-fold for this' before turning back to the screen and beginning his verse. He tried to sound Irish, but came out more like he was from India.

_Joe Murphy fought with Reilly near the cliffs of Alderney,  
__he took out his shillelagh and he stabbed him in the spleen.  
__Crazy Uncle Mike thought he was a leprechaun,  
__but in fact he's just a leper and his arms and legs are gone._

_When Timmy Johnson broke his neck it was a cryin' shame,  
__he wasn't really Irish, but he went to Notre Dame.  
__MacNamara crossed the street and by a bus was hit,  
__but he was just a Scotsman so nobody gave a sh-ACH!_

I applauded him as we continued the chorus, everybody having a good time and ordering more drinks. This made me think that the NPC in charge of the bar would be very happy in the morning when he counted his money. I realized it was time for me to continue the song and got the mic up to my mouth just in time.

_Me drunken Uncle Brendan tried to drive home from the bar  
__The road rose up to meet him when he fell out of his car  
__Irony was what befell me great grand Uncle Sam  
__He choked upon the very last potato in the land_

_Connor lived in Ulster Town he used to smuggle arms  
__Until the British killed him and cut off his lucky charms  
__And dear old Father Flanagan who left the Lord's employ  
__Drunk on sacramental wine beneath the altar boy._

The crowd got excited again and sang the chorus while Kirito pulled me closer and whispered something in my ear, making me smile and nod as it was time to begin the final verse, only a lot slower than the other verses as everyone else began to shush each other to quiet down. I began the first line.

_Someday soon I'll leave this world of pain and toil and sin_

Kirito came next with the next two lines, with a surprisingly better Irish accent than his last verse.

_The Lord will take me by the hand to join all of me kin  
__Me only wish is when the savior comes for me and you_

I smirked before Kirito and I finished the verse together.

_He kills the cast of Jersey Shore, and Justin Bieber too._

We sang through the chorus one more time before repeating the final two lines and ending the song. The audience was in an uproar of applause as Kirito and I bowed and exited the tavern with Asuna, who looked at us like we were idiots. I looked at Kirito with a smile.

"Now that is how you have fun before a boss fight, my friend," I told him.

"Did it need to be a song like that?" he deadpanned.

"Would you have preferred to try your hand at rapping to an Eminem song?" Kirito didn't answer and I took that as my answer. "I thought so."

"Well, since we're going to the boss fight tomorrow, I'm going to go find an inn."

"I might as well do that too. I'll see you guys tomorrow." With that, I left for my inn which, surprisingly enough, was in the opposite direction Kirito was going. I entered my room and flopped onto my bed. Sighing I reflected on the events of today and planned ahead for tomorrow.

_If I want to get to a high enough level to ensure victory in the boss fight,_ I thought,_ I'm going to need to be up and in the fields by about 8:00 tomorrow morning. I can also try to get the hang of that transformation jutsu while I'm at it._ I didn't want to be a burden with my unique skills that I couldn't control, so I figured I'd better get to at least level ten before it was time to leave tomorrow.

"I take it you've read through a bit of the scroll?" a deep voice said to me. I looked up and saw Tobi standing in a corner near the door.

"Yeah," I replied tiredly. "I also found out my transformation jutsu sucks big time. Oh, and I can't climb a tree very high without slipping and falling on my butt."

"Of course they do. You've only just started. You haven't even gotten through the basics yet, because you still have the clone and substitution jutsus to master before you make Genin."

"What do you mean? I'm not in the ninja academy! I'm in a freaking death game!"

Tobi just glared through his mask, sharingan blazing through the hole. "Your chakra abilities will be hindered until you get to a certain ninja rank. As you advance, you'll unlock better abilities and even better chakra control." I looked at Tobi curiously while he continued. "And I'm sure you've known about the boss fight coming up?" I nodded with a serious expression on my face. "I should warn you now, if you attempt to change the course of events too much, the consequences will come back to bite you."

"You mean like trying to save those who are supposed to die? I know… That doesn't mean I can't warn them of their imminent demise, like I did with Diabel. The way I worded it, I doubt he actually believed me."

"Remind me how you worded it."

"I said I had a vision of the future about something going wrong in the boss fight and to double check his safe ranges."

Tobi flinched slightly. "If you had said anything more, I'd have had to kill him myself if he survived, along with you for telling him."

It was my turn to flinch as I remembered I can't screw around with events in here too much. It's like going back in time; stay on the path and don't step on any butterflies…or something like that. And I only just realized that I almost stepped on a big one that would've screwed up the events here. _I guess it was a good thing I was so ambiguous on my foresight._

"I see you've realized your error. Then you get why you need to let certain events play out." I nodded grimly as I remembered how much death there really was in this game.

"I'll keep my warnings ambiguous, yet informative."

Tobi sighed and adjusted his mask. "I'll trust you not to screw this up. Remember what you're supposed to do."

"I got it don't worry… though I can't promise I won't try beating the crap out of Kibaou if he gives me crap."

"If you impress me with your progress or abilities, you may find something for your efforts. Until then, my guinea pig." With that, the air around his eye hole distorted and swirled, sucking him up into it.

* * *

The next morning, I was out in the field working on my chakra control and transformation jutsu. I was getting better, but the lips were surprisingly the hardest part to fix. I had maxed out my pig slaying skill and moved on to wolf hunting. And lemme tell you, it wasn't easy getting there. I found out wolves are a little harder than boars, both the easy way AND the hard way. It was about 1:30 when I finally got up to my desired level of experience. I took one last look at my profile while waiting at the appointed location for the rest of the group.

**Profile Name: Hiruzen  
****Level: 10  
****Str: 20 (+5)  
****Def: 20 (+3)  
****Mana: 35**

**Sword Skills  
****Horizontal: 68/100  
****Vertical: 59/100**

**Chakra Skills  
****Academy Chakra Control: 36/100  
****Transformation Jutsu: 100/100  
****Substitution Jutsu: 0/100**

**Original Skills  
****?: 0/100**

Before I went to the appointed meeting place, which happened to be outside the dungeon, I got myself a better sword. The sword I bought was known as the Trainee's Katana, and I loved it. Why? Because it raised the main stat I was concerned with, strength. If I found my speed attribute, it'd probably get a bonus as well. I also upgraded my armor with one of the material drops I got from my pig and wolf hunting. It didn't do much in terms of actual stat increasing, but it did its job with what was available.

My Chakra control also improved quite a bit and I finally mastered the Transformation Jutsu. The next one on the list was the Substitution Jutsu, but I figured I'd work on that later. Then I'd begin working on the Clone Jutsu, but that was for later.

I was brought out of my thoughts when I saw the fearless leader himself, Diabel, and a few other players coming towards the dungeon. Among those people were the other two members of my party, Kirito and Asuna.

"I didn't expect anyone to be here this early," Diabel said, happy, and surprised.

"I'm an early riser, according to teenager standards," I replied, shrugging, "and I figured I might as well work on leveling up a few and honing my skills for the big fight. I also marked the dungeon on my map before I went to bed last night."

"At least someone here has the right idea," Kirito yawned.

_Lazy idiot,_ I thought, snickering to myself. Asuna kept quiet throughout the whole ordeal. Her mouth was pulled into a small, thin line while her hood covered the top half of her face. I figured I'd better move over to them to make the party complete. All there was left to do was wait for the others.

We didn't need to wait long for the rest of the raid group to show up, yawning and dragging their feet. I sighed and shook my head at their attitude. Diabel's voice caught our attention once again, making everyone quiet down.

"Now is everybody ready to go?" he called out. Everyone raised their weapons in the air, yelling a war cry. "Then let's go!" The doors opened as we charged in.

Oh, the surprise we were in for…that came in the form of stairs.

* * *

**A/N: Now, my method for choosing the chakra attacks for my character is simple. Just leave it in the reviews. Your choices will be Fire Style, Lightning Style, Medical Ninjutsu, or an Original Style. The winner will be revealed in the next chapter. **

**Also, Updates are going to be kind of scattered due to mass travelling with my mom due to her job, and school. But they will happen. Until then, my awesome people.**


	3. Hiruzen Angers

**A/N: The winner has been decided...with a whopping ONE vote in the reviews...Kinda pathetic there...Oh well. This won't be the only thing that happens in terms of my character's abilities. For now, read on my beautiful viewers. **

* * *

**Chapter 3: Hiruzen Angers**

It took a few hours to actually get to the boss room, and with the rest of the group complaining along the way, my patience was wearing very thin. I knew that if this played out like the abridged version, there'd be a lot of idiots who didn't know/care about what to do in the boss fight. So instead of focusing on that, I thought about other things.

The main thing I thought about was how I felt about not being able to use my knowledge of the future to help people. To be honest, I hated it. I wanted to make sure as little death as possible happened. I knew some deaths were required to happen, but it didn't lessen the pain of the situation. I felt like if I couldn't use my foresight of the future, I'd be killing them myself because I'd be unable to do anything.

Diabel's sword hit the ground with a _tink_ as the rest of the group stopped outside the boss room, panting very, _very_ heavily. Diabel looked on in exasperation as I just shook my head. Diabel's voice caught my attention.

"Ok, so there a few more stairs than we realized. Apparently real life athletic ability is translated into the game. Good to know."

The rest of the group was still complaining. "Oh god I can feel my lungs trying to kill me."

"Is this sweat?!"

"I peed a little…"

Diabel sighed as someone puked. "Geez, this is sad."

"Oh screw it," I muttered. I walked up by Diabel and spoke to the crowd. "Why don't you idiots take a Cheetos and Mountain Dew break and we'll reconvene in an hour?" I honestly didn't expect them to take it literally, though seeing them take out all those snacks made me realize how hungry I really was too. So I did what everyone else did and grabbed something to eat from my inventory. I had myself an apple and a PB&amp;J sandwich along with what was this world's equivalent of Gatorade. I downed it all in about five minutes, thanks to the option of whether or not you wanted to eat the stuff for it to take effect.

"So Diabel," I said, looking over at the fearless leader. "You prepared for this boss fight?"

He looked at me and nodded, though his eyes said otherwise. I could tell he was afraid, but the way he held himself in front of the raid group never said anything close to that. "I'm prepared physically," he replied, "but I don't think I'll ever be fully prepared mentally. What you told me yesterday caught me off guard. But I double checked my strategy for this boss and made sure everything would go without any casualties." I grinned, letting out a small chuckle.

"That's good. I'd hate for someone to die after making it this far."

He smiled back at me similar to what a brother would do. "Yes, I believe this game can be beaten. This boss is the first step to proving it."

"Well, you certainly sound like you know what you're doing. So that begs the question." I got in close to Diabel's ear and put my hand in front of my mouth. "Were you a beta tester for this game?" I whispered.

Diabel's eyes widened. "How could you know that?"

"The way you explained what to do at the meeting is partially what gave it away. The other thing is that I noticed the way you knew where certain enemies would pop out. Some of those traps weren't exactly as obvious as others."

He slowly nodded and sighed. "Yes I was part of the beta test. I remember what happened when I got the last hit on this boss during that test. You get a rare item for the final hit on the boss."

"I seem to remember rumors of that extent when I got the game." Another lie, but only partially. I remembered Kirito getting the last hit on this boss in the anime getting him his trademark coat. "Do you think we can do it? Do you really think we can beat this boss?"

"Yes I do. This game can be beaten, and this is the first of many bosses to come."

I smirked. "Well, you've got me pumped for the fight now. Let's go already!" We stood up, ready to head into the room. After looking at everyone else, however…

* * *

"Dammit, guys, I was kidding!" I yelled at the crowd as Diabel opened the doors a full hour later. "You weren't actually supposed to take an hour! We've lost so much time already, so let's just get this done with! You all remember the plan." The boss room lit up as a figure greeted us on the other side of the room. It was a big, red monster wearing an executioner's mask and holding a giant battle axe and a shield. It jumped down from its throne and roared into the sky while the name flashed above its head, Illfang the Kobold Lord. Three spots around the boss lit up, leaving in their place the minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels.

"Alright, everyone," Diabel began, "Form up and-"

"Every man for himself!" someone yelled as the crowd attacked. To fully explain the scene, it was complete and utter chaos. Nobody knew what to do in terms of strategy, and instead was doing what you're never supposed to do in an MMO, which is not having a real strategy. My squad and I hung back as Diabel barked out orders to get the crowd doing what they were supposed to.

"Dammit, guys! Squad B, quit attacking the boss and keep sentinels off us! C and D, stop attacking from the front! Do you even know what flight means?! Squad F, for crying out loud, stop playing Bejeweled!" He groaned, turning to us. "Squad G, get in there and help A and B."

"On it, boss-man," I responded as we ran in.

"Don't talk back to- oh crap, really? Ok then." I stopped in front of a Sentinel that was surprisingly not being attacked by any of the other players and smirked.

"Well then," I whispered, only to increase my volume as I attacked. "Let's do this. LEROOOOOOY JENKIIIINS!" I hit the sentinel with a combo of sword skills, eventually finishing it off.

I caught sight of my teammates during my cooldown time as they got to another Sentinel. "Ok, Asuna," Kirito began, "what you're gonna want to do here is-" He didn't have time to finish as said girl launched herself at a nearby sentinel and killed with a few precise stabs of her rapier skill.

_She may look hopeless,_ I thought,_ but her technique has always been flawless, regardless of which version it is. She might be better than Kirito._

"Kirito," Asuna called, "I killed the thing and it says I have EXP's. Is that bad? Am I dying?!"

_Though I fully admit I prefer the original over the abridged Asuna… I'll have to teach her about the menu thing later. But for now, we'll have to focus on taking down the boss._ That's exactly what we did. We all whittled down on the boss's HP, occasionally stopping to take down a Sentinel every time they respawned, until we eventually got it down to the red on its last health bar.

"Alright, guys," Diabel yelled as the boss ditched its axe and shield, "This last part will take careful coordination…which is why I'm just going to do it myself." He ran to the front of the group and began charging his sword skill. Illfang pulled out his final weapon, causing Kirito's eyes to widen.

"Diabel, look out!" he cried. "That's not a Talwar, it's a Nodachi!"

"What's the difference?" Diabel responded.

"Well, a Talwar is of Indian descent while a Nodachi is Japanese. While both are primarily slashing weapons, a Talwar was favored by Cavalry men as opposed to a Nodachi which was mainly used for dick measuring." While Kirito explained this, the boss moved even quicker, beginning to bounce from pillar to pillar while charging its own sword skill.

"What's your point?!" Diabel asked, frustrated but never taking his eyes off the boss.

"A Nodachi is longer than a Talwar, so it's got more reach and does more damage!" I yelled.

"Wait, wh-" He didn't get to finish, as the boss slammed in front of him, slashing him diagonally across the chest. He let out a pain filled scream while the boss kicked him away, causing him to slide away from the group. The boss landed in front of them, roaring fiercely until a screen popped up in front of some players.

**Bonus Item: Soiled Pants**

"Oh hey, a rare drop!" someone exclaimed.

I ran over to Diabel with Kirito on my tail. I gently picked up Diabel's head as Kirito pulled out a health potion.

"Diabel, are you ok?" I asked.

"Why couldn't you mention the difference first?" he asked, looking at Kirito.

"I like to think of myself as a teacher. Here, drink this." He held the potion to Diabel, but found his hand being stopped by said man.

"No. It's better this way. I just can't do it anymore." He sighed. "You know, I know such high hopes for everyone. But now, our greatest asset is a girl who thinks DPS is some kind of sex thing."

"I know! It's weird, right?"

"You two clearly aren't like the rest. How do you stand it all? Where do you draw your strength?"

"I've been playing MMO's for a long time. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that lions do not concern themselves with the appealings of sheep. Just take that little voice in your head that tells you to be tactful and understanding…and shoot it. Shoot it in the damn face."

"You're so wise. And what about you?" His attention was on me for the last question.

"It's just me focusing on my goal," I answered, my voice quivering slightly, "which is getting home, and protecting those I form a bond with."

Diabel put his other hand on mine, grasping tightly. "I'm glad to have met you. My only wish is that I'd met you both sooner. Maybe things would've been different." He shifted his gaze to me and stayed there. "You must lead them now. Show them this game can be beaten."

My eyes widened as he began to glow blue then shattered into polygons of the same color. Kirito stood up and turned to face the crowd and the boss, his hair overshadowing his eyes. Asuna appeared right beside him.

"Alright, here's what we'll do," she began. "One counters his blows the others move in to strike. Rotate, rinse, repeat, victory."

"You came up with that," Kirito dryly remarked, "but you can't open the menu."

I remained silent throughout the banter between the two, still staring at where Diabel used to lay in my arms. I felt many things all at once; rage, sadness, confusion, helplessness. But most of all, I felt determination. I drew my sword very slowly and stood up. I walked toward the boss, the air around me swirling around me and eventually turning blue.

"Well," I growled, "you guys coming or not? Let's put that plan into action."

The boss roared one last time before my teammates nodded and ran at the boss, swords glowing. Illfang charged his Nodachi skill again before coming at us. Kirito countered his slash and called "Switch!" right as Asuna moved to strike. The boss slashed at Asuna, barely missing her and destroying her cloak in the process. Now that I had a good look at her, I could see why Kirito was paired with her in the anime. She was flat out beautiful.

Her hair fell to her waist in a mixture of red-orange and brown, tied in two braids around her head while the rest fell down her back. Her eyes were a mixture of red and brown (it was hard to tell from where I was standing). Her attire consisted of a white long sleeved shirt with a red vest and red skirt that stopped just above her knees. The belt that held her rapier hung loosely around her hip.

I focused my attention back on the boss as she let loose multiple consecutive thrusts with the rapier, launching it back several feet. The conversation between them gave me enough time to charge my own attack.

"You almost got yourself killed!" Kirito quipped. "I'll attack him."

"Oh that was a fluke and you know it," Asuna responded. "He's mine!"

"No, he's mine!" Kirito blocked another strike as Asuna moved in.

"Mine!" She let loose another combo of thrusts.

"You're both wrong!" I shouted. With a burst of speed, I ran at the boss, charging a new skill. "He's MINE!" A small notice popped into the corner of my vision, showing me images of hand signs performed in a certain order. I focused my chakra into my katana, causing it to burst into a small torrent of flame along the blade. "**Fire Style: Burning Slash**!" I jumped into the air in front of the boss, and slashed in front myself faster than what would normally be possible in the game at my level. After quickly sheathing my sword, I performed the hand signs I saw in my notice. "**Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu**!" Putting my fingers around my mouth, I blew a stream of fire that turned into a huge ball of flame, hitting the boss and finishing it off.

The boss stood in its spot for a few seconds before exploding into shattered polygons. I landed on the ground with a _thud_ as I stared at my health bar, just bordering in the red. I dropped to one knee and breathed very heavily. That stunt had just cost me about 80% of my health and I was feeling the after effects. A small screen popped up in front of me letting me know what I got.

**Bonus Item: Cloak of the Blood Mist, Coat of Midnight**

I opened my menu and sent a trade request to Kirito, giving him the Coat of Midnight. He accepted after a shocked look at me for a few seconds. The lights in the room dimmed as Agil walked up to us.

"Congratulations," he said. "That was more impressive than that cat that learned to play." Said cat meowed as it was mentioned, looking like a cat head spliced onto a human body. "You two have led us to victory. These men and I will follow you to hell itself. Now address your people."

"I always knew this day would come," Kirito began before clearing his throat. He looked at me and time seemed to slow down for a moment. His look told me everything I needed to know about what he was going to do. "Fellow gamers, we have traveled hard, and up many stairs to reach this point, fighting side by side, noobs and leets alike. I'd like to take a moment and say that I couldn't have done it without each and every one of you."

"Aw, that's a nice thing to sa-"

"Of course I'm not a liar so I'm not gonna say any of that."

"Oh crap."

"I mean really, I could've done this whole boss fight myself. But, to be fair, it did absorb a bit of damage for me, which was nice. You were an adequate meat shield and no one can ever take that away from you."

"Dude, no, shut up, shut up!"

"So for all of you that came to play, and that one guy playing Bejeweled back there, reach for the stars." Kirito opened his menu. "It'll make it more fun when I kick you back into the dirt."

"You're not better than us!" someone in the crowd yelled.

A black coat with silver lining made itself known on Kirito's body. "My sweet-ass coat begs to differ."

"Dammit, he's got us there." Kirito began his trek up to the second floor gate when Asuna stopped him.

"Kirito, wait!" He turned his head to face her. "I want half."

"I'm…sorry. What?"

"I want half the coat. I did half the work, so I should get half the coat."

"No, it's not fabric I can cut, it's a bunch of ones and zeros."

"Fine, then gimme the ones."

"Screw you, I want the ones!" He sighed. "I am not having this argument. I'm dy-solving this party."

"Kirito, if you walk away with my half of the coat, I will make your life a living hell!"

"You know what, fine! I'll give you the damn coat!" he paused then calmly continued. "Just send me a trade request."

Asuna hesitated. "What?"

"Oh it's quite simple really. Just open your menu." He walked through the gate, laughing his butt off as Asuna yelled at him some more.

"Don't bother," I called to her, standing up shakily. She turned her attention to me and almost immediately calmed down. "He's got his reasons for doing that."

"Are you even in a shape to be standing?" she asked me.

"Probably not, but it's nothing a health potion won't fix." I fell back to one knee, still panting. I looked at my inventory and sighed, seeing it had no health potions. "Well, so much for that idea…"

A brown hand held out a glass phial of red liquid. I looked up and saw Agil as the owner. Smiling, I took the potion from his hand and drank it, restoring about half of my health. I stood up with an offered hand from Asuna and Agil and looked at the rest of the raid group.

"I'm glad everyone is safe and accounted for," I sighed. "Diabel's wish was to prove this game can be beaten. This is just the first step to doing that." I was about to continue when a familiar, arrogant voice interrupted me.

"Just shut your damn mouth!" The crowd parted to reveal Kibaou glaring at me. "You're just spouting nothing but bull crap!"

I frowned in confusion and slight anger. "What makes you that, Kibaou?"

"You just let Diabel die!" A few gasps from the crowd sounded as others murmured to each other. "How could you know about the boss's attack pattern switching? You couldn't have unless you were a beta tester!"

My face went from one of slight anger and curiosity to a hardened glare. "I don't know how you came to that conclusion, but you seriously need to calm down and rethink your reasoning." I faced the rest of the crowd. "Diabel died in my arms, that much is true. But it wasn't because of my lack of action. It's because he didn't want to keep going. His last words to me were 'Show them this game can be beaten.'" Tears threatened to fall down my face. "Kirito and I tried to give him a health potion, but he full on rejected it. I don't know what happened to make him give up so easily, but I know that he wanted to make others believe in themselves as well as others."

"Then how do you explain all that fire you spouted during the fight?! This game doesn't have any sort of magic in it!"

That was a good question. It took a second, but I quickly thought of a way to BS my way out of this. I wiped my face before answering. "Only a select few copies of the game had a patch. In this patch, you're given an ability that doesn't have a cooldown time. While it's more powerful and versatile than Mana, it's also very costly. This ability is called Chakra." I paused enough to bring up my health bar. "You see how low my health is? After that stunt with the fire, my health was borderline red zone. Chakra uses up your HP if you don't have enough control, and depending on how much control you have, it can very well kill you before it does something good for you." I made my health bar invisible to public eyes again. "So in other words, my abilities might be slightly more powerful than yours, but I try not to use them because of the nasty side effects, and I'd rather just use my sword."

Kibaou just remained silent as I turned my back to the crowd. Asuna's arm stopped me from continuing to the gate. "Let me ask you something." Her face was unreadable as she said this.

"Go ahead," I hesitantly nodded.

"How did you and Kirito know my name? I never said it."

"In the corner of your vision, you can see your teammates' health and names. I'm a little surprised you didn't notice earlier."

She looked where I indicated and sighed. "Now I feel stupid for not noticing that. So you're Hiruzen, huh?"

I looked at her and smiled. "If I can offer you some advice, if someone asks you to join a guild, don't reject them. Solo players can only go so far."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go find Kirito. He's not the only one out here that needs to learn something new that's not from the game." I held my hand out to her. "Until we meet again?"

"Oh…sure." She hesitantly took my hand and shook it.

"Also," I added as we let go, "try swiping your hand down sometime. It'll help you a lot in the long run." I turned and headed through the gate to the second floor.

* * *

I flopped onto a bed in one of the inns in the city. I would've fallen asleep if not for someone interrupting with a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I called.

"Room service," the NPC answered. "Complimentary on the first night of your stay."

Thinking it over, I decided I might as well not waste free room service. "Alright come on in." The door opened and a girl NPC walked in carrying a tray of foods that looked really good. There was a dish of fried rice, some yakisoba, and a nice big bowl of death by chocolate ice cream along with other dishes. I lost about half of my tired feeling when I saw the food. The girl noticed this and giggled quietly. Along with the food however, there was a note next to what I can only assume was chicken stir-fry. I thanked the NPC gave her a small tip as thanks for her service. She exited my room and closed the door, leaving me to my food. I sighed and picked up the note.

_Hiruzen,_

_I saw what you did to finish off the boss, for which I must applaud you. Your reward for your actions will be in your inventory along with a new scroll to learn from. Enjoy these gifts, and keep trying to impress me further. –Tobi_

I stared at the note and sighed again, too tired to even try to be angry at Tobi. I opened my menu and looked in my inventory. There were two new items in there, one of them being the fire jutsu scroll, the other being something I never expected from Tobi. I clicked the item and it materialized into my hand. It was small, but a little heavy and inside a small box. I undid the top and opened it to reveal a ball on a small pillow. The ball itself looked to be made of some type of crystal.

_Why would Tobi give me this?_ I didn't know what to think of it at first, so I set it aside and went through the rest of my inventory, eventually landing on the item from the boss fight, the Cloak of the Blood Mist. This was something I didn't know what to do with, since the name sounded intimidating enough to give me the chills. I decided to at least try it on and see what it looked like. So I pressed the equip button, and it appeared in a blue flash.

What came onto me was the cloak that was the very symbol of the Akatsuki; Black with red clouds on it. I couldn't be recognized easily with this thing on, and it gave me an idea. After unequipping the cloak, I dug into the food, immediately loving the taste of it and watching how it refilled my health bar slightly with every bite until I was filled, in both my health and my stomach. Once I had finished the food, I lay down on my bed, ready to face the challenge of getting all the quests I needed to be ready for the next boss, and fell asleep with one thought in mind. _Kirito and I will be ready for facing Kayaba in combat with enough grinding and leveling up._

* * *

I opened my eyes to a white space spreading for miles from what I could see. It took me a second to realize I wasn't alone and saw another person next to me. He looked to be about my age, give or take a few years, and wore a shirt that hung loosely closed showing about half of his chest held closed by the thick purple rope, or obi, tied around his waist with a red and white fan-like symbol on his back. He also wore Hakama pants and sandals that wrapped around his shin and a sword hanging on his lower back. His hair framed his face in the front, stopping just below his chin and spiking up in the back. His coal black eyes looked at me with indifference as I recognized who he was. Standing before me was Sasuke Uchiha.

"Oh son of a biscuit," I muttered. "What did that dick do to me this time?"

"Hey," Sasuke's voice caught my attention. "I hear you're the one who can use chakra in that game universe."

"Yeah," I hesitantly answered, "What about it?" I was hesitant to answer this guy because I knew how psycho he really was. One wrong move could mean my death before I wake up.

His expression didn't change as he walked closer to me. "How good are you at using it?"

"Not very good, but I'm getting better. I've mastered the Transformation Jutsu and I'm starting on the Substitution Jutsu in the morning. Why do you ask?"

"According to Tobi, I have to teach you about real chakra techniques in the fire element." My eyes widened at what he was saying. Tobi was making Sasuke, someone who never had the patience for anything that didn't involve power for defeating the cause of his clan's death, teach me about fire style jutsu. I'd have laughed if I wasn't so scared of him. He apparently noticed my expression and sighed. "I take it Tobi didn't inform you of this?"

"No, but as a reward for using fire style jutsu in the boss fight, I got a crystal ball and a scroll of various fire jutsu to learn. Also, the boss dropped an Akatsuki cloak for me."

His expression hardened slightly at the mention of the organization Tobi led. "Alright, here's how this'll work," he sighed. "I'll be teaching you every time you open that scroll. Once you master the Jutsu in that scroll, you'll be able to begin learning another element." I nodded, actually becoming a little excited for getting to learn more jutsu. "But you need to remember you have your limits as to what you can do because of your currently horrible chakra control."

"Hey, I'm getting better! At least I'm to the point where it doesn't take 2% of health to properly transform."

"That doesn't mean you have good control of your chakra." Dammit, he had me there. "That's why I'll be helping you with that when you come here."

_That'll certainly help me with my control and it'll help me learn faster,_ I thought. After mulling it over for a few minutes, I decided to ask the question that had been plaguing my mind for the last few minutes. "What do you get out of this?"

He hardened his glare at me. "That's none of your business. Do we have a deal or not?" After deciding it was best not to tick him off, I stuck my hand out.

"We have a deal. You teach me proper control and some good fire style jutsu and I'll make sure to practice as hard as I can." He shook my hand and the vision began to swirl.

"It's time for you wake up now. Once you've gotten someplace isolated enough from other players, we can begin you're training."

* * *

I woke up with a start. Looking at my clock, I saw it was about 8:30 and figured it was time to get up. I did so, and walked downstairs to the cafeteria where I saw a variety of muffins and fruit spread out on a table. After a minute of deciding, I picked up a couple of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins, paid for my room, and headed out to the new world that was the second floor of Aincrad.

_One thing's for sure,_ I thought. _With Sasuke training me, I'll have to keep my guard up. There's no telling _what_ his training involves._


	4. Reputations

**A/N: I absolutely LOVE the positive feedback I'm getting on this one. I'm sorry I took so long with this one, but my school and procrastination were getting out of control for a while. Also, for those who noticed my little slip up in the last chapter, I'm sorry about that. I was only going with what I could hear in between Diabel's quiet voice and my mom cleaning the kitchen behind me. It has been fixed, and once again, sorry about that. Now on with the story.**

**Chapter 4: Reputations**

Sore did not even begin to describe how I felt after one of Sasuke's 'little' training sessions. It'd been about two months since we cleared the first floor and a week since I started Sasuke's program of Fire Style Jutsu training and chakra control classes, and I was starting to wonder how he didn't just roll over and give his training the middle finger when he was still living in Konoha. I'd even brought it up a few times during training, and he'd only respond with something like a stern 'focus' or even outright attacking me when my guard was down to even a Sharingan enhanced glare which would immediately shut me up.

On the bright side, I managed to greatly increase my control, and even mastered the substitution and clone Justus. Now I didn't take any hit to my chakra meter (which I gained once I mastered the basic three Jutsu) when I needed to climb a tree or walk on water. I also managed to get myself a few level's along with some extra attacks to add to my arsenal. One thing Sasuke definitely approved of was my choice in swords, and after telling him what happened in the boss fight, I could tell he was planning something for me in terms of training.

It wasn't until I looked at my stats again that I finally saw the major improvement in my power.

**Profile Name: Hiruzen  
****Level: 13  
****Str.: 35 (+8)  
****Def.: 32 (+5)  
****Mana: 38**

**Sword Skills  
****Horizontal: 100/100  
****Horizontal Combo: 5/1000  
****Vertical: 100/100  
****Vertical Combo: 2/1000**

**Chakra Skills  
****Genin Chakra Control: 989/1000  
****Transformation Jutsu: 100/100  
****Substitution Jutsu: 100/100  
****Clone Jutsu: 100/100  
****?: 0/1000**

**Fire Style  
****Fireball Jutsu: 69/100  
****Phoenix Flower Jutsu: 15/100**

**Original Skills  
****Burning Slash: 9/100**

_Now here's a good arsenal,_ I thought, satisfied with my progress. I knew I'd have some problems if I overestimated my abilities, also I didn't want the entire place remembering me as one of the infamous chakra users that hung around with a beater (a combination of cheater and beta tester, which somehow became Kirito's nickname when I wasn't looking), so I kept my abilities hidden as much as I could and only used them in isolation or if absolutely necessary. I also managed to make use of the Akatsuki cloak I got from the boss fight by having it disguise me (sort of) in public places I didn't want to be recognized in. To most of the other players, I was the leader of a guild that had recently started up as a sort of mercenary/quest grinder guild known as the Akatsuki. To others that were a little more informed, I was one of the supposed few who had the abilities of Chakra. To the ones who really knew me, aka Kirito and Asuna, I was just Hiruzen, the kind of awkward but fun loving player in a death game.

I was in my usual hunting spot, training and working on my first original skill that made me think of the moment of Dragon Ball Z when Trunks beat Frieza using the same method. In front of me were a few monsters that made for good EXP and practice dummies. One of the forest monsters charged at me while I focused chakra into my katana, enveloping the blade in fire and getting myself ready. When it got within 5 feet, I called out my move.

"**Fire Style: Burning Slash**!" The end result was all my enemies shattering from existence. I looked at my Chakra bar, and saw how much chakra it ate up at my current level. _Okay, note to self, until I get my power up some more, avoid using that move._

The sound of clapping got my attention, and I turned to see Tobi standing in one of the trees. He still had his swirly mask and Akatsuki cloak, and I got the feeling he didn't just come for an update on my progress.

"Alright, what's up, Tobi?" I sighed.

"I came for an update on your progress, as usual," he replied.

"Alright, you setting me up for training with Sasuke was a good deal because I now have almost Chunin level control of my Chakra, and my arsenal has gotten a bit bigger since the boss fight. So, all in all, I'd say things are going along very nicely."

"I'm glad your training is beginning to pay off."

"Though I will say, I'm still very sore from it. I seriously wonder how he always kept going with it while he still lived in the leaf village."

"He's had his ambition for revenge to keep him going. I thought you would figure that out already."

"It's kind of hard to when he dodges the question whenever I ask."

"Oh well. He has his ways of staying with his regimen. How is the cloak you were given?"

"It serves as a way for me to be the leader of the new guild, the SAO Akatsuki, and not be recognized the one chakra user that hangs out with a beater."

"I thought you were going to keep your abilities hidden." I could feel his glare on me again. "How did you explain your chakra abilities to the rest of the raid group?"

"I told them that a few copies of the game had a patch that gave the ability of chakra that was more powerful than Mana, but also very costly to the users health without proper control."

"As long as you didn't say you were the only one who had the ability, that's fine. If you died right after that boss fight, it would've been hopeless."

I frowned slightly. "What else do you want? I get the feeling this isn't like the other meetings we've had."

"You're perception has improved a bit." I couldn't tell whether I was supposed to take that as a compliment or an insult. "Do you remember what I gave you as a reward for your first battle use of Chakra?"

"You mean the crystal ball? Yeah, what about it?"

"Do you know why I would give you something like that?" I thought for a moment before shaking my head. "Call it a way of keeping track of the friends you make here. You'll need it if you want to prevent unnecessary deaths." I began connecting some dots pertaining to what the ball meant.

_Wait a minute,_ I thought. _Don't tell me that's the…_

"Is something wrong?" Tobi's voice brought me out of my thoughts.

"I think I just remembered what the crystal ball is and how you were able to get one." He motioned me to continue. "I believe the crystal ball…once belonged to the very man I'm named after, the Third Hokage!"

"It seems your powers of perception are even greater than you let on. Yes that was his crystal ball used to watch over Naruto before he became a ninja. I took it before his office was remodeled for the slug sannin to take the position."

"So how do I use it?"

"Simply pour your Chakra into the crystal ball, then think of the person you need to view."**(1)**

I gaped at the missing-nin, surprised. I didn't think it'd be that simple to use it. Then again, who outside the ninja world would? I regained what little composure I had and spoke again. "Is that all you came to tell me?"

"Actually, no it isn't. You should also be aware of a small quest that will dramatically boost your strength lying somewhere on this floor."

"Okay then-wait what?"

"There's a mountain on this floor where you can obtain a martial arts skill to boost your strength attribute and improve your hand-to-hand combat. It's very tricky to get though."

I was practically drooling at the thought of being able to boost my strength. More strength in my case means more Chakra to use. And more Chakra means more abilities to prevent unneeded death. I calmed myself down before I spoke up again. "Is that all you came to tell me, or is there more?"

"Nothing more that I need to tell you yet. Just to keep training and to be on the lookout for a partner who'll be joining you in the near future."

Before I could question him on the partner bit, he swirled into his pocket dimension, leaving me alone in the forest once again. Only one thing through my head as I stared at the empty space he once occupied. _That…freaking…dick…_

* * *

I decided to take out one particular quest that caught my interest. This seemed like the normal kind of fetch quest, a girl needed certain herbs found in a dangerous forest to heal her sick mother. The things that caught my attention was that I'd seen people take this quest on multiple occasions, and only half of them came back. Of those people, half of those were either traumatized, beaten to near death, crying, or in the case of some, all three. I figured I might as well give it a shot to see what the fuss was about.

I was in the small village in my Akatsuki cloak looking at a bulletin board that had the quests for the floor posted on it. After finding the one I was looking for, I decided to go and wander in search of the NPC who gave it. My search was halted however when I found a small girl holding some flowers and looking around the city frantically. I walked up to her about to ask her what was wrong, when she spotted me and darted in my direction, and hiding behind my leg.

_What's up with this? I get the feeling I'll find out soon one way or another…_ My thoughts were confirmed when a group of solders that patrolled the town came up to me.

"Did you see a small girl come running through here?" one of them asked.

"Who wants to know and why?" I answered in a deeper voice than normal, almost mimicking Itachi's voice perfectly. Something told me these knights didn't exactly have good intentions towards the little girl.

"We're the patrol NPC's that make sure those who do criminal acts get caught, be they player or NPC. That girl stole some herbs from a nearby flower shop on multiple occasions and needs to be brought to justice."

I opened my map to look for which shop they were talking about. Said shop started blinking when I opened my map, showing it to be on the other side of town. I felt the little girl lift up my cloak and crawl under my legs to get out of sight, though it didn't show on what little bit of my face was visible.

"So we ask again; have you seen her?"

I looked the NPC solder in the eyes before pulling my best poker face and taking all emotion from my voice. "Didn't see anything of the sort. However, I feel I need to point out that if this girl has evaded you multiple times, then you probably need to increase your training regimen." The NPC looked at me, baffled, before they all marched back to look for the girl. As soon as they were out of sight, I gently called out to her. "Alright, the coast is clear. You can come out now." The girl cautiously crawled out from under my cloak and looked around before turning to me with a sigh of relief and a smile. She was about half my size with short blond hair tied up in a pony tail and wearing a blue dress that came to her mid-shin with a few rips and holes in the bottom.

"Thanks for not telling on me," she said, then frowned. "But why did you do that?"

"Something told me they didn't exactly have good intentions for you. But the real question is, did you really steal from a shop? And if so, why?"

The girl looked at the ground and began guiltily drawing circles in the dirt with her feet. "I…I…" she stuttered before sighing, "yes. I stole these from the flower shop on the other side of town. But I need them to save my mommy!"

I put my hand up to quiet her down before kneeling down to her level. "Just calm down for a second. Why did you steal the herbs?"

"My mommy is very sick and needs them. But we don't have enough to buy them and the forest they grow in is too dangerous for me."

I knew immediately that this was the girl I was looking for the quest. "Have you gone there before?"

"Yeah, and I almost got attacked by some monsters."

"Let's talk somewhere else, okay?" She nodded and led me down a path toward a house that looked even smaller than Scott Pilgrim's apartment. After opening the door, the girl led me to the side of a bed where a woman lay, looking very pale and breathing very heavily. I didn't know what to say after looking at the NPC woman. What _could_ I say? When you see a girl practically crying over their sick mother and willing to steal just to get a cure for her, it breaks your heart. After a few minutes of awkward yet sad silence, I found my voice again. "So you need something to help your mom?"

The girl turned my way and nodded. "My mommy needs these to get better. There's one herb that's a big ingredient in the medicine she needs." A small screen popped up in front of me.

**Quest Objective: Gather ingredients for medicine within the allotted time.**

**Reward: 2600 EXP, 1500 Col**

**Do you accept this mission?**

I pressed the accept button and nodded. "I'll get the rest of the stuff for you."

"You will? Really?!"

"Yeah. I'll just mark this spot on my map so I remember where I'm supposed to go. Now do we have a list of these ingredients?" The girl nodded and the screen in front of me showed me what to gather. _5 of everything except for this one rare herb…I get the feeling that's gonna be the hard part of this mission._ I looked back to the girl and smiled. "Alright, I'll be back in a bit." I turned to leave when she stopped me.

"You only have until the sun sets to get those ingredients back here. Please hurry!" I nodded and ran for the forest, keeping my guard up for any monsters that would jump out at me.

* * *

It took me a few hours, but I had finally found all the ingredients except for the one rare herb I needed. During those few hours, I ditched my cloak since I wasn't in a public place and used the unrestricted movement to my advantage. I had practically journeyed through the whole dungeon looking for it and I knew it wasn't a monster drop, so I figured there was a big boss fight that I needed to do. I had come to a set of doors that I'd passed on multiple occasions that looked like a smaller version of the main boss gates. Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the gates and walked in.

The room looked slightly bigger than a standard mini boss room and almost overflowing with vines and roots crawling from the ground to the ceiling along to walls of the room. That wasn't the only thing I noticed though. I also saw many different webs lining the corners of the room, giving me a big clue as to what might happen in this room. At the very center of the room, there was a small circle with a little plant that looked very familiar from my childhood.

_A blue flower with red thorns,_ I thought. _I didn't think Mr. Akihiko watched that movie._ I took a wild guess that that was the last ingredient I needed to complete my quest. _Just having the item in the middle of the room? Seems too…convenient…_ My thoughts were confirmed when I pulled out a kunai and threw it into the air. A loud screech pierced the air and an almost zombie-like spider dropped to the ground landing on its…hands? Yes this spider had hands on its legs and long, matted, black hair framing its hideous face. It was almost a dead ringer for the Spider Queen from the game _Okami_, except this one didn't talk, and didn't have a flower full of dead eyes where its abdomen should be. This one instead had a horrible smelling odor coming from its mouth as it hissed and a major case of spider web diarrhea. _Alright then…let's dance._

Two health bars appeared next to the boss as I drew my katana along with another kunai and got in my stance. The boss hissed one more time before shooting a wad of spit at me. I jumped to the side to avoid getting damaged and looked back to see what happened as a result of that spit wad. My eyes widened as I saw a smoking hole where I once stood.

_Ok, that's one ability they didn't have in Okami._ I looked back at my enemy just in time to see a zombie hand about to crush me. I leaped for the side and felt a surge of adrenaline. It launched a another acid spitwad at me, but this time I rolled under it and jumped up, slashing in an upward arc across its head and taking out about a third of its first health bar. It retaliated with another shot of acid spit, spraying the battle field in front of it. I knew I needed to get in close if I wanted to get any real damage in, but I didn't want to abuse my Chakra just because I had it.

I moved in with a series of sword skills that brought its health down to about a fourth in the first bar. Moving to the underside, I rolled and stabbed my kunai into its abdomen. Spinning, I stuck out my katana to slash at all the legs on the monster, taking out a small portion of health for every leg until the first bar was almost gone. After taking my kunai out of its stomach, the spider kicked me to the edge of the arena, knocking about 15% of my own health off. Another shot of acid spit took it down another 10%. I admit, to my everlasting shame, I couldn't contain the less than masculine squeal that resulted from the burn.

I glared back at the spider before smirking. "Okay then," I growled, "if that's how you wanna play it… I'm game." I struck my stance again, only this time, enveloping my sword in Fire Chakra. With another rush toward the spider, I jumped and slashed in multiple spots until I cut off all its legs. The monster screeched and shot a web up to the ceiling. I cut the web before anything could happen and flipped the spider over. It was time to do one of the best moves in the Legend of Zelda games, the Ending Blow. After getting a good stance, I ran at the boss until I was about five feet away from it and jumped. A few flips and a loud yell later, my sword was hilt deep in the boss's head. I stayed in that position for a few seconds before jumping off and sheathing my sword. After one last groan, the overgrown spider princess shattered into pixels.

_I should be glad that was only a mini-boss. If that were a floor boss, I don't think I would've lasted as long as I did._ I looked at my health bar and sighed. My health sat comfortably at 65% and my Chakra meter was sitting at 85%. After chugging a health potion, I grabbed the flower and was about to teleport out when I spotted another plant monster in the battlefield.

Something about it just being on its own didn't sit well with me, along with the fact that I'd seen others like it and none of them had a little fruit on their head like this one. Usually it was a flower, or in the case of some, a bud.

_This enemy is either really stupid, or it's a trap set up by the developers. _It didn't make any move to attack me, further steering my suspicion toward developer created trap. After suppressing a shudder, I pulled a crystal out of my inventory and teleported out of the dungeon.

* * *

It had gone dark in the few hours since I accepted the quest. I was currently standing outside the house where my quest would end, decked out in my Akatsuki cloak. I didn't know what to expect when I knocked on the door. Maybe a small screen popping up telling me my reward has been received, or even an item transfer screen. The last thing I expected was to get tackled by the little girl I accepted the quest from.

"YAY! You did it!" she exclaimed.

"It's good to see you too," I rasped, "but do you want me to give you the items or suffocate from lack of air?" She got off of me and scratched the back of her head sheepishly, blushing. A small screen popped up in front of me telling me to transfer the items required for the quest. I did so and the screen disappeared. The girl then led me inside the house to see her mom, who was now up and walking around again.

"Mommy!" the girl called. "This is the guy that got your medicine!" Now that she was up and walking again, I could see she had blond hair that stopped just below her neck along with a heart shaped face and deep blue eyes. She looked to be about 5 inches shorter than me and wore a red dress with a white apron that covered the chest area.

"So you're the one who got those ingredients for my medicine," she spoke in a soft tone. "Thank you very much. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't gotten them."

"It's alright," I replied. "I suggest making more of those, you know, just in case of a relapse."

"I know it isn't much but here is the reward." She gestured to the two sacks on the table. "It's the least we could do for someone kind enough to do this dangerous task."

I was about to take the sacks when I started thinking about why this quest was made. _When I first took this quest, it was because people were too afraid to due to the misleading nature. This caused the girl to go steal from a shop to find the herbs she needed so she could heal her mother._ After a few more minutes of debate, I turned back to the mother with a gentle smile. "Go ahead and keep the money," I said.

She looked back at me wide-eyed. "What? Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I've got more than enough already. Besides, you need it more than I do. If you need more ingredients for those meds, then it's better to buy them than to go and hunt in the scary forest." I reached over and took the bag that represented my EXP reward and prepared to leave. I was at the door when I felt the girl tackle hug me from behind.

"Thanks for the help, big brother," she chirped. Time seemed to freeze for a second. I couldn't help but remember my life back home with my little sister and my mom. All the times my sister and I had our disagreements, all the times I defended her from bullies at her school, all the times she's helped me get through my problems, and all the times my mom was there for us which, for the past few months before I got dragged in here, wasn't very often. It may not have been very fun sometimes, but there was only one way I could describe it.

It was home.

And I took it for granted. It tore me up on the inside just thinking about it.

I turned my head back to the NPC on my back and smiled again. "No problem, kiddo. I want you to stay out of trouble from now on, though, you get me?" She nodded and slid off my back allowing me to take my leave. I waved back at the mother and daughter before pumping Chakra into my legs and sprinting back to the city. I didn't even feel the tear that dripped down my face.

* * *

As I lay in my hotel room, I began thinking about why that quest was supposedly so hard. I didn't find it as hard as people made it look, and I don't think it was because of my "unique" abilities. That mini boss seemed to be easy enough to defeat even without Mana or Chakra. That's what made me wonder why out of all the people who took the quest, only half came back with the symptoms of what might turn into PTSD. Then I began remembering what I saw after my fight with the mini boss. The plant monster with the fruit on its head looked very suspicious in terms of enemy placement. Not only that, but this was the first time I'd seen one like that. So finding one during the aftermath of a mini boss was more than a little weird. It was there that I was able to draw the conclusion of why people were so traumatized by that quest. If my logic was correct, the trap in the form of an enemy was the biggest cause of the death during that quest. My guess was the enemy had a fruit on its head as a trigger for some kind of alarm to lure every enemy on the floor to the player like flies to a pile of crap.

My thoughts soon drifted to the givers of the quest, more specifically, the little girl that dubbed me her big brother. I knew she's an NPC, but I still couldn't help but feel a sense of responsibility to her now. I couldn't help but feel I needed to be there for her whenever she needed me like I was for my sibling in the real world. Except I had even more responsibility this time because of it.

My eyes began watering again at the thought of my own family. I really missed them; despite saying I hated it there. I guess it really is true what they say; "You never know what you have until it's gone." I sat up and curled myself into a ball on my bed. My thoughts stayed at my family and all the good times I had with them. When I heard footsteps on the floor in my room, I just buried my head into my arms.

"Piss off, Tobi," I choked. "I'm not in the mood."

"I get your feeling a little emotional right now," a voice replied, "but I'm not Tobi." I looked up and instead saw my fire style teacher in place of where Tobi would be. He looked at me with the same indifferent look that held a hint of annoyance.

"Oh, well in that case," my tone shifted back to a slight growl, "what do you want, Sensei? Actually, how are you even here right now without me opening my scroll?"

"Tobi is busy getting your companion for this BS experiment of his. I'm supposed to check your progress via using the scroll as a medium to project myself."

"I beat a quest that other players didn't go for and got dubbed big bro by the NPC who gave that quest causing me to go into my current emotional state. Flip off Tobi for me when you see him."

Sasuke didn't seem too happy with the way I worded that sentence, but he didn't do anything except look down, much to my surprise. "What was that last bit?" he asked, just above a whisper.

"Flip off Tobi when you see him?"

"Before that."

"I got dubbed big bro by the NPC who gave the quest causing my current emotional state?"

"Yes, that. How did getting called that cause your emotional problem?"

"It made me remember how bad I really suck at my job as an older sibling." Sasuke flinched slightly at that. "And it made me remember my family back home; my mom and my little sister." It was silent for a few minutes before Sasuke spoke up again.

"You're a better sibling than you think." My head went up to face him while he just glared lazily at me. "Now buck up and quit whining. Why did people avoid this quest?"

After wiping my eyes, I answered. "My theory is people were so scared because of a trap in the form of an enemy. This enemy was the same as most other enemies found in the dungeon, but instead of a flower or bud on its head, it had a little fruit. My guess is when defeated, some kind of alarm will activate drawing enemies from all over the dungeon if not the whole floor." Sasuke nodded in thought.

"That's a sound hypothesis. Alright, get some rest. You've got another quest to do tomorrow." With that he faded from my view. I fell asleep about 10 minutes later, with my last thoughts being, _I'll come back to you and mom soon, sis. Just wait for me a while longer._

* * *

**(1):** It never really was explained how the crystal ball worked, so I'm just making one up.

**A/N: I have to say, this is one of the more emotional chapters I've done so far. Previously when I've done emotional scenes, it didn't go so well. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's showing with some detail is better than just expecting the audience to get it. It's really helped with my pacing.**

**So as a thank you to those who follow and favorite this story, here's a small bonus scene. **

* * *

**1 week after the fight with Illfang**

Back on the first floor, there was a location that, for the most part, was empty. It was a giant hall, almost like a cathedral, with the walls covered writing. The place was essentially a cemetery as it showed the names of every player in the game, both alive and deceased. The only way you could tell the difference between those that were alive and dead was the color of the names on the wall, blue signifying the players was alive and red signifying death. So you can imagine my surprise when I found a fifth of those names were red while everyone else stayed blue.

It took a few minutes, but I eventually found Diabel's name and smiled. "Well, we've beaten this boss," I said sadly. "But we've got another 99 to go. We couldn't have gotten this far without you, Diabel. Rest in peace my friend." Saying a quick prayer, I got ready to leave when I got an idea and walked off to a bar in the Town of Beginnings.

It was about an hour later when I reached the spot I was looking for. It was the same spot that a good portion of the raid group partied in the night before the boss fight, and the same spot where Kirito and I sang our Karaoke song. The bar was half as filled this time, however, and the stage was empty except for the microphones that stood in the same spots as that night. I went up to the NPC in charge of the shows and tapped his shoulder.

"Hey, are you guys still doing the karaoke option here?" I asked.

"Yeah," the NPC replied, "but we may need to close it down soon due to the lack of interest since the raid group was here."

"Well, I have a song that I'd like to sing and I was wondering if you had it in your selection." The NPC looked through his thick book of songs.

"What's the name of it?" I looked behind me and whispered the name into his ear. He looked in his book one more time and nodded. "Alright, then. When you're ready, go ahead and go to the stage." I nodded and climbed up almost immediately. I grabbed one of the mics as the screen that held the lyrics popped up in front of me.

_Green Fields of France_

_In the style of Dropkick Murphy's_

I took a deep breath as the piano signaled the start of the song. The bar immediately turned its attention to the stage as I began.

_Oh how do you do, young Willie McBride  
__Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside  
__And rest for a while in the warm summer sun  
__I been walkin' all day, and I'm nearly done  
__And I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen  
__When you joined the great fallen in 1916  
__Well I hope you died quick, and I hope you clean  
__Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene_

A drum and a flute came in with me on the chorus.

_Did they beat the drum slowly?  
__Did they play the fife lowly?  
__Did they sound the death march  
__As they lowered you down?  
__Did the band play the last post and chorus?  
__Did the pipes play 'The Flowers of the Forest'?_

The air around the bar took on an unexplainable mix of emotion. I continued the song as I remembered Diabel and all those that died before the boss fight. As I looked around the bar, I saw a few people with sad smiles on their faces, others with tears running down their cheeks. It wasn't long before I found myself at the final verse of the song.

_And I can't help but wonder, oh Willie McBride  
__Do all those who lie here know why they died?  
__Did you really believe them when they told you the cause?  
__Did you really believe that this war would end wars?  
__Well the sufferin', the sorrow, the glory, the shame,  
__The killin', and dyin', it was all done in vain.  
__Oh, Willie McBride it all happened again  
__And again and again and again and again_

I smiled as the crowd joined with me for the final chorus, some even going into a slight harmony.

_Did they beat the drum slowly?  
__Did they play the fife lowly?  
__Did they sound the death march  
__As they lowered you down?  
__Did the band play the last post chorus?  
__Did the pipes play 'The Flowers of the Forest'?_

When the song ended fully, I said one last thing before going off stage. "This song is dedicated to those who have already died in this game. May we continue to live for them." With that, I stepped off the stage as the crowd applauded me. I walked back to the teleport point in the city and took one more look at the town. _It won't be long before this floor is almost completely empty. That'll be a sight to behold._ I yelled my destination on the second floor and teleported off.


End file.
